Manafort Pleads Guilty, Agrees to Cooperate in Mueller Probe

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort pleaded guilty Friday to two conspiracy counts after cutting a deal with prosecutors and agreeing to cooperate with the special counsel's Russia probe.

(Published Friday, Sept. 14, 2018)

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's decision to plead guilty and cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller could be a game-changer for Mueller investigation and dramatically ratchets up the pressure on the president, NBC News reported.

Even vigorous Trump defender Alan Dershowitz acknowledged on MSNBC Friday that the Manafort plea was a "big win" for Mueller that potentially "opens up lots of doors that probably haven't been open before."

Legal experts say it could lead directly to Trump's deepest secrets.

Because Trump isn't known to use email, Mueller is unlikely to find Trump's name on a smoking-gun document as he investigates whether the campaign coordinated with Russians interfering in the 2016 election. But Manafort sat in on crucial meetings, like the infamous one with a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower, and can testify about all of it.

If there was a conspiracy between the campaign and Russia, it's hard to imagine Manafort wouldn't know, analysts said.